This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Egypt.
Handstamps were first introduced during the Napoleonic period, 1798-1800. Single line handstamps are known from "ALEXANDRIE", "LE CAIRE", "BENESOUEF" and "SIOUTH". [1]
Carlo Meratti, an Italian, set up the first postal system in Egypt in 1821. This was a private enterprise which in 1842 was named "POSTA EUROPEA". The Egyptian Government, in 1857, sanctioned it to carry on all inland postal services. This concession was purchased by the Egyptian Government and on 1 January 1865 it took control of this service. This service was renamed to "POSTE VICE-REALI EGIZIAN". [2] [3]
First Egyptian stamps were issued on 1 January 1866. The 1867 issue featured a pyramid and the sphinx. Stamps issued in 1872 were inscribed in Italian "Poste Khedive Egiziane'. Egypt joined the UPU in 1875. From 1879 stamps were inscribed in French. [4]
It was occupied by British forces during the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882, Egypt remained an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, but the British occupation constituted a de facto protectorate over the country. In 1914, Egypt was declared a British protectorate when the Ottoman Empire joined the First World War on the side of the Central Powers.
Egypt gained nominal independence from the British Empire as the Kingdom of Egypt in 1922 with Fuad I as King of Egypt.
Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt declared itself a republic in 1953.
In 1958 Egypt merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic. Stamps were labeled "United Arab Republic" or more commonly UAR. After Syria's withdrawal from the union in 1961, Egypt retained its "United Arab Republic" name until 1971.
Post offices in Sudan, the Ottoman Empire and in East Africa were opened by the Egyptian postal administration. No special stamps were used, only normal Egyptian stamps; thus, they can only be identified by the cancellation. [5]
According to records a total of 27 post offices were opened in Sudan – but cancellations are known only from 11 of these. Egyptian stamps were in use in Sudan between 1867 and 1897. [5]
A total of twenty post offices were opened in the Ottoman Empire; the locations are now Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Syria. These were in operation for only a few years between 1865 and 1881. [5]
In 1865 the local post distribution company Liannos et Cie was established in Constantinople to distribute mail arriving in the city which was not addressed in Arabic as the staff of the Ottoman Postal Service were unable to read the Latin alphabet. In 1866 a second service was set up on behalf of the Egyptian post office operating in the city to solve the same problem. Both services were short lived. [6]
Four post offices were opened in what is now Somalia and one in present-day Eritrea. They were open between 1867 and 1885. [5]
Egypt provided the postal stamps for Gaza between 1948 and 1967. On May 5, 1948, Egypt set up postal services and issued overprints of Egyptian stamps with Palestine in Arabic and English.
Stamps were issued by the Suez Canal Company in 1868 for postal service between Port Said and Suez before the service was incorporated into the Egyptian postal services.
British, French, Italian, Austrian, Russian and Greek post offices operated on Egyptian soil, particularly in Alexandria and Port Said.
British troops used special stamps inscribed BRITISH FORCES IN EGYPT or ARMY POST EGYPT from 1932 until 1941.
A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. Modern postmarks are often applied simultaneously with the cancellation or killer that marks postage stamps as having been used. Sometimes a postmark alone is used to cancel stamps, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. Postmarks may be applied by handstamp or machine, using methods such as rollers or inkjets, while digital postmarks are a recent innovation.
A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes, and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term "postmark" refers specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation" as it may serve that purpose. The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. Cancellations of some countries have been extensively studied by philatelists, and many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves.
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is attributed to Robson Lowe, a professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer, who made the first organised study of the subject in the 1930s and described philatelists as "students of science", but postal historians as "students of humanity". More precisely, philatelists describe postal history as the study of rates, routes, markings, and means.
This is a partial timeline of significant events in postal history, including dates and events relating to postage stamps.
This is an introduction to the postal and philatelic history of Italy.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Iraq. It includes special uses under the Ottoman Empire as well as occupation issues.
The Straits Settlements of the Malayan Peninsula have a postal history distinct from the other Malayan areas.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Romania.
Aden is a city in southern Yemen. Aden's location made it a popular exchange port for mail passing between places around the Indian Ocean and Europe. When Captain S. B. Haines of the Indian Marine, the East India Company's navy, occupied Aden on 19 January 1839, mail services were immediately established in the settlement with a complement of two postal clerks and four letter carriers. An interim postmaster was appointed as early as June 1839. Mail is known to exist from 15 June 1839 although a regular postmaster was not appointed until 1857; one of the officials of the Political Agent or the civil surgeon performed the duties of postmaster for a small salary.
The postal history of Malta began in the early modern period, when pre-adhesive mail was delivered to foreign destinations by privately owned ships for a fee. The earliest known letter from Malta, sent during the rule of the Order of St John, is dated 1532. The first formal postal service on the islands was established by the Order in 1708, with the post office being located at the Casa del Commun Tesoro in Valletta. The first postal markings on mail appeared later on in the 18th century.
The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.
The postage stamps and postal history of Palestine emerges from its geographic location as a crossroads amidst the empires of the ancient Near East, the Levant and the Middle East. Postal services in the region were first established in the Bronze Age, during the rule of Sargon of Akkad, and successive empires have established and operated a number of different postal systems over the millennia.
The postal history of Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, dates to the 18th century when foreign countries maintained courier services through their consular offices in the Empire. Although delayed in the development of its own postal service, in 1863 the Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia to issue adhesive postage stamps, and in 1875, it became a founding member of the General Postal Union, soon to become the Universal Postal Union. The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and early postal history of Sudan. Sudan was governed by the United Kingdom and Egypt from 1898. Independence was proclaimed on 1 January, 1956, and independent Sudan became a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on 27 July 1956.
Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, was founded in 1558 and postal markings were first introduced in 1764. The three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 saw the independent nation of Poland disappear. The postal services in the areas occupied by Germany and Austria were absorbed into those countries' postal services. In 1772 the area occupied by Austria was created into the Kingdom of Galicia, a part of the Austrian Empire. This lasted till 1918. The Duchy of Warsaw was created briefly, between 1807 and 1813, by Napoleon I of France, from Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. In 1815, following Napoleons' defeat in 1813, the Congress of Vienna, created Congress Poland out of the Duchy of Warsaw and also established the Free City of Kraków. Congress Poland was placed under the control of Russia and the postal service was given autonomy in 1815. In 1851 the postal service was put under the control of the Russian post office department regional office in St Petersburg. In 1855 control was restored for a while to the Congress Kingdom but following the uprising in 1863 again came under Russian control from 1866 and continued until World War I. In November 1918 the Second Polish Republic was created.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Syria.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Lebanon, formerly known as Liban.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Jordan, formerly Transjordan.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Crete.
